Accustomed to budgeting hundreds of dollars for textbooks each semester, Ana Andrade found a nice surprise in her inbox after registering for fall 2020 classes. The simple message from her instructor: No need to purchase the official textbook because a free online resource is offered. Since fall 2017 when the zero-cost textbook program known as open educational resources (OER) was introduced, Washtenaw Community College (WCC) students have saved nearly $9 million in WCC’s 47 courses offering OER. The Michigan college now offers four entirely no-cost textbook business certificates, and it is close to offering zero-cost textbook associate degrees, dubbed “Z Degrees.”
